Liverpool Telescope Oversight

Although the Liverpool Telescope (LT) is owned by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), its
operation and performance are monitored and advised by a number of internal
and external bodies.

Users are encouraged to send feedback on their LT experience (at any time) using
this form.

LT Oversight Committee (LTOC)

The Oversight Committee meets approximately twice a year and considers
programmatic issues pertaining to the current use and future direction
of the LT. The current membership of the LTOC is:

LTOC

Name

Institution

Prof Clive Tadhunter (chair)

University of Sheffield

Dr John Beckman

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

Dr David Bersier

Liverpool John Moores University

Ms Sharon Bonfield

Science & Technology Facilities Council

Mr Allan Clements

National STEM Centre

Prof Tim Naylor

University of Exeter

Prof Andrew Newsam

Liverpool John Moores University/NSO

Dr Tim Roberts

Durham University

Prof Stephen Smartt

Queens University Belfast

Prof Andrew Young

Liverpool John Moores University

LT User Group (LTUG)

The LT User Group comprises (usually four) external and
(usually two) internal LJMU members. Guided by the LTUG Charter, the goal of this group
is to evaluate and comment upon the day-to-day operations of the
telescope, the performance of its instruments, and the productivity of
the observatory as a whole. The LTUG meets one or two times a
year. The current membership of the LTUG is:

LTUG

Name

Institution

Since

Prof Stephen Smartt (chair)

Queens University Belfast

April 2013

Dr David Anderson

University of Keele

April 2014

Dr Nicolas Lodieu

Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

March 2015

Dr Matt Darnley

Liverpool John Moores University

April 2013

Dr Stacey Habergham

Liverpool John Moores University

Sept 2015

The LT Director, Prof. Iain Steele, and the
Astronomer-in-Charge, Dr. Chris Copperwheat, report to and act as
ex-officio members of the LTUG.

LT users are encouraged to contact members of the LTUG directly, or
LT staff via the LT support and Phase-1 query emails (see the
Contact Us link
on the sidebar) with any comments or suggestions regarding the
operation of the telescope.

We are extremely grateful to the following past members of the LTUG
for their service: Prof Alan Fitzsimmons (Belfast), Prof. Keith Horne (St. Andrews), Prof. Nial Tanvir (Leicester).

LT Internal User Meeting

Members of staff at the LJMU Astrophysics Research
Institute are also able to communicate their views on the performance
of the LT via an internal User Meeting. This meeting occurs
twice a year, usually just before the proposal deadline, and is
currently chaired by Dr Matt Darnley.

Allocation of Telescope Time

Telescope time is allocated by a number of Time Allocation Groups (TAGs).

U.K. time is allocated by STFC's Panel for the Allocation of Telescope
Time (PATT). The current chair of the PATT TAG is
Prof. Mark Sullivan (Southampton);
the other members of the TAG are
Dr David Anderson (Keele)Dr Carolin Villforth (Bath) and
Dr Klaas Wiersema (Leicester).
Their terms of reference are described here.

Internal LJMU time is available to members of the LJMU Astrophysics
Research Institute (ARI) through a separate allocation. Proposals are
evaluated alongside PATT proposals by the PATT TAG, though time is
allocated by the ARI board. The current LJMU representative on the PATT TAG
is Dr David Bersier.

Spanish time is allocated by the Comision de Asignacion de
Tiempos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias - the IAC
CAT. The various CAT TAG members are listed
here.

International time is available to non-UK and non-Spanish PIs through
the OPTICON Trans-National Access programme, and through the
International Scientific Committee (CCI).

For further details on these time allocation groups, and guidance on
how (and where) to apply for telescope time, please use the
Proposal Instructions link on the sidebar.